Candidates fail to impress in first federal Liberal leadership debate

Trudeau holds his own during first Liberal debateWith nine candidates on stage, it was a battle to make an impact during the first Liberal leadership debate. Canadian Press reporter Joan Bryden says Justin Trudeau stood his ground, despite some jabs about lack of experience.

If you chose to watch the federal Liberal leadership debate on Sunday
afternoon instead of the National Football League playoffs, you made a
mistake.

Unlike the NFC final, the Liberal debate was a ho-hum affair; it had too many candidates and not enough new ideas.

In many ways, it was an opportunity lost for a party desperately seeking to rebuild its brand. For one of the few times since 2011, the Liberals were the centre of the 'Canadian-poli' world. In fact, at one point during the afternoon, #LPCdb8 was the number one trending Twitter hashtag in all of Canada.

Justin Trudeau — the race's front-runner — gave a lacklustre performance and showed little passion. Moreover, he did little to shed his sizzle-over-steak persona speaking — for the most part — in generalities.